The bitter winds in February were sometimes called the First East Winds, but the longing for spring somehow made them seem more piercing.

Danger was the grindstone on which the swordsman whetted his spirit. Enemies were teachers in disguise.

Sincerity, even if it speaks with a stutter, will sound eloquent when inspired.

It's no good to want to win still more when you have already won.

Monks transgress the Laws of the Buddha, stir up the common people, store wealth and weapons, and spread rumors; under the guise of religion, they are nothing more than self-serving agitators.

It does happen, of course, that the priesthood has been on bad terms with womankind for some three thousand years. You see, Buddhism teaches that women are evil. Fiends. Messengers of hell. I've spent years immersed in the scriptures, so it's no accident that you and I fight all the time.

The truth of the scholar, alone in his study, does not always accord with what the world at large considers to be true.